1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to electrical computers and data processing systems, and relates more particularly to a display console for electrical computers that provides controls for multiple selectable viewing orientations.
2. Description of the Related Art
As the popularity of the Internet and other online information sources increases, there has been a corresponding increase in the demand for different avenues of connectivity to the same. Online data providers produce instantaneous updates in the areas of news, weather, sports, stock market information, and the like 24 hours a day. Millions of subscribers worldwide also send and receive personal or professional e-mail notifications on a 24 hour basis. However, subscriber access to this continuous flow of information is limited to those times when they have access to a computer terminal that has online capability. Typically, subscribers only have access to such a computer terminal when they are at home or at their workplace. When subscribers are not at these locations, they face the inability to access online data. Thus, access to online information becomes problematic in a variety of locations, including for example, dining and entertainment venues.
At the same time, dining establishments and entertainment venues, such as restaurants, bars, pubs, coffeehouses and the like, are constantly seeking new promotions to attract more customers and, in turn, to generate more revenue. For example, thousands of such establishments now offer online, nationwide, interactive trivia games, such as those provided by NTN COMMUNICATIONS. Other establishments have included video games, vending machines and the like to produce additional revenue. Certain establishments also provide computers with Internet access at particular locations within the establishment, so that customers may access online data.
A particular problem with providing online connectivity within dining and entertainment venues is that computer terminals take up an already limited amount of tabletop and/or floor space. A monitor for a standard computer terminal alone can take up to half the available useful area on a typical dining table. When terminals are placed adjacent to, rather than on such a table, a significant amount of floor space becomes unusable for other purposes such as access by wait staff, room for customers to move about, etc.
In one attempt to solve this problem, particular video games have been introduced in tabletop form and provided to restaurants and the like in order to entertain customers and to generate revenue from the fees charged for playing these games. Such video games, like PAC-MAN which is produced by ATARI, typically provide a flat tabletop with a clear surface so that customers may sit at the table in front of a set of controls and play the game. Such video game tables, however, are problematic in that they are typically bulky, take much floor space, provide limited functionality and have power cords protruding from the sides thereof which make them unsightly if used in the general dining area. These video games also do not provide the ability for users to selectively change a viewing orientation of the image on a display. This, in turn, means that a group of such users seated at various positions around the table may not adjust the image's orientation so as to accommodate each user's view, thus some of the users will have a poor view of the screen. The prior screen display orientations are generally dictated by the device. Convenient viewing of an image by a group of users is, therefore, problematic in tabletop machines of the prior art. These features of prior art video games make them unpopular for widespread use within dining and entertainment establishments.
Because of subscribers' increased demand for online connectivity at a variety of locations and a general inability to accommodate viewing of tabletop images by a group of users, coupled with the desire of dining and entertainment venues to increase revenue while sparing floor or table space as well as preserving the atmosphere of the venue, there is a need for an apparatus which minimizes or eliminates the foregoing problems.